


Bothan for Two

by pythia



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Modern AU, Prompt Fill, holiday feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-25 21:15:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17128871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pythia/pseuds/pythia
Summary: Leia was generous with time off during the holidays, but Rey never bothered to take any time off. Without any family, Rey never really had any connection to the holidays. It was just another day.Sitting at her desk, Rey went through her email and actually read every unread message. It was mindless work, but there was nothing else to do.





	Bothan for Two

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jeeno2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeeno2/gifts).



> For Jeeno2, whose Rogue One fanfic brought me into the Star Wars fandom years ago. On Twitter, they retweeted "sentimental office cuddling" from the ao3 tag generator account and said "someone write this for me pls." 
> 
> I hope this works.

It was nearly the end of the fourth quarter and the end of their fiscal year. Rey kept hoping that there would be a last-minute surge in donations. The Resistance had enough money to meet all their needs, ensuring that their soup kitchen, homeless shelter, and the clinic would be funded for the next year. 

Leia was generous with time off during the holidays, but Rey never bothered to take any time off. Without any family, Rey never really had any connection to the holidays. It was just another day.

Sitting at her desk, Rey went through her email and actually read every unread message. It was mindless work, but there was nothing else to do.

It grew late and the office gradually slipped into a soothing twilight gloom. Rey liked it that way, working the dark office by the light of her monitor. She loved her co-workers, but Rey was her most productive when working alone.

Somewhere in the interior of the office, a door opened and closed. The soft noise tore into the silence, startling Rey. 

“Hello? Is someone there?” Rey clearly remembered locking the front door and resetting the alarm. How had she missed the chirp of the alarm?

“Rey?” From the darkness, Ben Solo emerged wearing a dark suit with his messenger bag slung over this shoulder. 

“What are you doing here?” Her heart began to slow down, reassured that it was just Leia’s son. 

Ben shrugged in response. “Nothing to do. Hanukkah was two weeks ago. Leia and I aren’t meeting up for dinner until tomorrow night. There’s a Corellian place that’s always open and then we’re seeing a movie.” His face was calm, but Ben’s eyes betrayed him. There was an expression in them that Rey could not name and sincerely hoped that she was imagining. 

A year ago, Ben and Leia sitting down for dinner was something that she never would have imagined. After Han died, Rey had tracked down Leia’s twin brother Luke and her estranged son Ben. Luke refused to leave his remote home in the mountains but eventually called his sister after more than a decade of silence. 

Ben was even more difficult case, as he’d changed his name and moved to the opposite coast. Rey found him and marched into his glossy black office, calling him a number of horrific names. Their fight culminated in Rey clearing everything off his desk in a rage after Kylo threw an empty mug at her. 

Days later, they started text messaging each other. Then, Ben quit his job and moved out to work with Leia.

Since then, there had been an awkward détente between them. Lingering glances, fingers brushing against hers, and this strange sense that Ben wanted to speak with her. 

Rey wondered about the stability of their agreement each time his eyes flashed when Leia laid a motherly hand on her shoulder. 

“Oh, okay.” Rey made to spin back around in her chair to finish her emails. 

“You could join me... I mean us. For dinner. Leia would love to have you come.” Ben’s right hand curled into a fist and then relaxed at his side. 

 Rey looked at Ben and attempted to gauge his emotions. He was a stormy mix of vulnerability, rage, and a desperate need to connect with someone.

It was a combination that Rey knew all too well.

“Thanks, Ben, but I’m good.” She smiled blandly and raised her eyebrows in what was probably a bad imitation of someone she’d seen on tv. It was the sort of face that Finn and Poe often made to diffuse awkward situations. It always made Rose laugh.

Ben just twisted his lips, a ghost of a smile. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, obviously considering his words. “I want to thank you. For coming after me so hard. For actually fighting with me. I don’t think anyone has raised their voice at me in at least a decade. It was a wake-up call. A year ago, I’d be where you are now. At a desk, answering emails. Tomorrow, I’m going to have dinner with Leia. We’re trying to work things out. I owe you more than just dinner and a movie.”

Once while watching a movie with Finn, Rey saw a deer run across a snowy winter road and freeze in the bright lights of the oncoming car. She’d been horrified by how the animal had just stood there before the car managed to swerve and barely miss hitting it. Rey suddenly understood how that deer could stand there in the middle of the road and stare, uncomprehending at something so obvious. 

Ben Solo was hot.

She’d missed it all of those times when they’d run into each other awkwardly trying to pass each other in the hallway or the million times over the last year when they kept catching each other’s eye. 

“Well, I did it for Leia. So, don’t worry about it.” Rey’s stomach growled loudly and her face flushed, embarrassed. It sounded like there was an angry rancor rampaging around her stomach. 

“I’m glad you did.” Ben looked down at Rey’s stomach. “I owe you more than just one dinner. I had to get some files and then I was going to make some dinner. You could join me.” 

His eyes were so hopeful, and her stomach growled again.

“Yeah, I could eat.” Rey closed her laptop and slipped it into her tote bag. They stood together in the dark office. She hadn’t considered how dark it would get once she closed her laptop screen. All Rey could hear was the sound of their breathing, it was a strangely intimate moment. As if they were the only two people in the universe.

“Ben? Can you get the light switch? I can’t see anything.” Her voice was high and tight. He let out a low grunt and the room was flooded with bright fluorescent light. 

Rey cursed her habit of working in the dark and paused to let her eyes adjust. There was an easy silence between the two of them, the first since Rey had burst into his office the previous year. 

“I’m in the mood for Bothan, does that sound okay to you?” Rey grew up on Bothan cuisine, the spicy noodles were now a strangely comforting food for her as an adult.

“Bothan is always good.” Ben nodded and let Rey lead them down the hallway where she reset the alarm and locked up the office. 

They rode the elevator down in silence, Ben looking down at her with a soft look in his eyes.

“Happy Holidays Rey.”

“Happy Holidays Ben.” 

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Twitter: [@PythiaTweets](http://www.twitter.com/pythiatweets) and [ Pythia](https://www.pillowfort.io/Pythia) on Pillowfort. 
> 
> Please do not repost any of my works. If you'd like them posted on another site, just ask.


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